Add Velcro

Liana has to be one of the most patient and determined little girls I know. Of course, she can get frustrated sometimes but she has a spirit about her that will keep trying. I am so thankful God made her this way and it is such a blessing to see her conquer something and the giddiness she has afterwards.

Since the twins were little, we tried lots of different tricycles. We had a radio flyer one, a fisher price one and we tried various ones at therapy. But none of them ever worked that great and the girls were never super excited about riding them. Last year we got them scooters and we finally had some excitement, but Wade and I really wanted them to learn how to ride a legit bike.

So for Christmas, Santa brought a two wheel bike (with training wheels) and the girls were so happy they had their first real bike. That week Wade went out with them to practice and that's when were unsure if we had made the right choice. Liana was struggling to get her bike to move. She would see Adleigh going all over the place and get discouraged. Wade being the incredible dad he is helped push her and told her learning to rides bikes is a process. She came home saying she had fun but I could tell that she was bummed. Our problem was that her feet didn't want to stay on the pedals. It may have something to do with leg strength or how she goes on her toe when she walks but we needed a solution.

We knew we needed to do some kind of modification to her bike so I looked up pedal toe clips, straps, etc to figure something out. It was going to take a while for stuff to get here and I wanted her to have a victory before she decided biking isn't for her. So we pulled out some velcro and wrapped it around her feet onto the pedals. Now I know that when we decide to take off training wheels we will need another option because if she falls then she can't put her feet down, but as of now and with our helmet/ kneepads/ elbowpads/ gloves we should be good.

I let her go around the house to practice since it was cold and raining that night and first started following her on my knees with my hands on her feet doing the right motions for her. Then we progressed to calling out "left foot down" "right foot down" while she moved her feet by herself. And then it clicked and she was doing it all by herself. One time some velcro got loose but she was still able to to push the bike! To say we were excited was an understatement! She was so proud of herself and said "I kept trying and now I can do it!"

How simple was the solution but how incredible was the result. Adleigh and Liana are so excited about their bikes now and all it took was a little velcro for Liana to feel like she was on the same level as Adleigh. I can't wait to take both of them out for a real bike ride now :)

Here is Liana riding with and without velcro: